Playing the stocks

Lev had saved a little money, and somehow got it in his head that he wanted to play the stock market. He had heard everything was down and figured it had to go back up. He thought it would be more fun if we did it together, so we each put $500 in on the same stocks. He chose what he knew: Dell, Sony, and Microsoft. To me these were three ex-successful tech stocks, but he was so confident, and it seemed like he had done his homework. Soon after investing they all started to go up. It was eerie. I realized that he actually had the business sense that the rest of the extended family sadly lacked, it was neat to see. He was not happy with how Dell was doing and quickly dumped it at a break even. He patiently waited while Sony and Microsoft climbed. One day he texted me from school: sell! sell! Guess he had a hunch that it was time. I sold them off and we each made $250, for a 50% gain. Not too shabby! I was deeply impressed. He was very happy, but decided that stocks were not for him. He did not like rooting for these faceless corporations. The funny thing was that he was not surprised or elated about his gains, but expected this outcome the whole time. Maybe he could have been a rich man, he had that sense...and he certainly had charisma :-)

July 7, 2010

Lev would often get mad at me, but I knew it was just a passing moment. This photo was taken in his last two days. We were on a tram up to the top of a mountain in Jasper. He was getting a little motion sickness and I said it would be better if he stood up and looked out the window. He argued that it would not, and was mad that I belittled his nausea and said he would be just fine.

When we got to the top, there was snow, and it was gorgeous. Lev had a little pedometer clipped on his pants that he found totally fascinating. He lost it sliding around in the snow. He was bummed and Tony searched with him, much to Jaal's annoyance, looking all over, and they found it. He was happy once again.

boffing

For the last few years, Lev loved going boffing on Saturdays in Bellingham, from noon to four. He would often meet Grady there and then stay over at his house. When they were younger we used stay and watch them, but as they got older we would go hiking with Jaal while Lev boffed. It started with clan wars, and then games like capture the flag. There were young kids, but mostly college aged students. It was great exercise, and was the closest Lev could get to his fantasies of living in medieval times. He often created his own weapons, but sometimes Jaal would make them, or Grady, or Lev would commission one from an older player. Last May Grady and Lev seemed less interested in boffing and frustrated with some of the rules and politics. They took it very seriously and had a little clan of their own that would meet there. Perhaps they were outgrowing it, but he certainly enjoyed for a few years.

back when we were full of glee

Lev in third and fourth grade

I remember dearly when a person I didn't recognize stood up at the memorial and shared how glad he was to find out that he was in one of Lev's classes. He knew that with Lev there it would be entertaining and fun. Over the years, Lev had teachers that really understood and appreciated Lev's character, and those that just found him annoying.

In fourth grade, I had hired a teacher that was not working out. She had limited patience and sometimes yelled at the kids. It made my job more complex as director since Lev was in her class. Lev, of course, would egg her on and make things worse, just to be Lev and amuse himself, impress his friends. Then, a few weeks into the year she realized how much Lev loved to read. He behaved himself when he was reading. She let him read almost all day. I figured he would learn a lot from reading and I could catch him up with math later. She was happy to have him not causing trouble. Lev was happy to read. I remember one day he finished a chapter book in a day. I wasn't thrilled with the situation, but it was a good compromise. Luckily his class was attached to the library. It was an unstaffed room with lots of shelves, tons of donated paperbacks, and some tables and chairs.

One day, at lunch time his teacher came into the office and asked if Lev was home sick. I said, no, he came to school with me, and was a little concerned about his whereabouts, but Monteverde wasn't a place to get concerned about kids wandering around. Still, we asked his friends, and went out searching. Eduardo said that he saw Lev in the library before school. So, there he was. On some cushions in the corner of the library. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied, "reading". He was completely unaware that school had started over three hours ago, regardless of the fact that you could hear his class through a door in the library. He had gotten half way through a book. I think it was the Redwall series.
Mid-year, his teacher left, and we hired a teacher that worked out very well. Lev was no longer able to read all day, but he enjoyed regular school again.

He didn't really appreciate the CEC when he was there, the tree climbing at recess, time in the forest, proyects, integrared curriculum, etc. until after returning to the States.

He remained really proud of his part of the forest that he reforested. We would go back and visit each time we returned to Monteverde the three square meters that he was responsible for in third grade, when Bryan was his teacher. In partners, they planted trees, and then maintained the land with little machetes, letting the trees grow larger than the king grass. They would graph their plot and the growth of the plants. They would sit and write poetry, becoming one with the land. It was about a fifteen minute walk from the classroom, and Lev seemed to remember where it was exactly. Last time we were there, two of his trees has grown taller than he was. He was so proud.

Boxing

Lev really wanted to be a boxer. We often went outside to spar. We wore gloves, but no other protection. I always assumed one of us would get hurt, but we never did. I think we were just careful not to hit too hard. We both really enjoyed the sport, it was a lot of exercise and very fun. It was one of my favorite bonding activities with him.

In the spring of 2010 he decided that he wanted to get more serious and join a boxing gym. Naturally we were hesitant about it, but we agreed to do it, and he started looking into it. Right before summer break we happened to be in Big 5, and it occurred to me that we should buy better gear. We chose new gloves, helmets, and some focus pads. He did not ask or beg for these things; it was my pleasure to buy them for him. He loved the focus pads, whacking away at them with glee. I also liked them, since the target was no longer my head. Rebecca even held the pads for him one time when I was gone, which warmed my heart when I heard it, because she hates boxing, but loved her son enough to do this anyway. He decided that with all of the new gear, maybe he did not need to join a gym right away, he could just spar with us until he got better. Obviously we were pleased to hear this.

Hair Straightening and Washington DC

Today at school I went to The Landing. While we were talking one of the adult leaders asked us all to share a funny story about a the person who had passed away. For what ever reason I thought about the Washington DC trip. The first thing I thought of was how Lev and I made a deal about hair, which led me to think of a few stories.

In 8th grade I HATED wearing my hair down which is why it was always pulled back in a pony. Well out of no where Lev looked at me and said "you should wear your hair down tomorrow" I asked him why and he just smiled and said that I would look pretty. Looking for a quick comeback I immediately replied "only if you let me straighten your hair." So we came to the agreement that if I wore my hair down for however many days I would get to straighten his hair. It was so funny because I knew he hated it. He kept repeating that he didn't understand why girls straightened their hair because it was painful and to time consuming.

During the time that I had to wear my hair down, we were on the bus and it was late, or at least it was very dark out. Well my friend Samantha stole my back pack just to snoop through it, I had no idea it was even gone until she gave it back. So i just took it and sat back like normal. I guess at some point she had thrown my hair brush at Lev, because all of a sudden I felt someone brushing my hair. I was kind of weirded out, because brushing someones hair is a tad bit on the creepy side. Even more so when he refused to let me move until he had finished. We jokingly called Lev a creeper for the rest of the trip after that. Weirdly enough he seemed almost proud of that title.

Another memorable moment during the trip was during one of the times Rebecca was so kind as to let the group I was in assimilate with her own, since my groups leader Mr. Morrel had back issues and couldn't keep up. I remember standing with Annie, Amanda, Lev and David and we were talking. Rebecca was standing a tiny bit in front of us. I don't remember the conversation but I do remember Lev said something then Annie raised her eyebrows, looked at Amanda and I, than in a voice just loud enough for Rebecca to overhear said " Lev! Don't Call Me A Slut!" Rebecca pulled Lev off to the side for a minute, and when he came back he glared at us because he was angry about his mom lecturing him about respecting women.

Lice

On the airplane I watched a movie that had a scene in it where the little boy had lice. Lev had lice twice, always exceptionally.

The first time was when he was in first grade. We decided to shave his hair really short, which he was excited about. Tony took him out on the porch, on the Lawton's house in Monteverde, and with his beard trimmer proceeded to shave his head. I went out to make sure Tony was ready and he had already started. But, while I was planning on shaving it to a quarter inch, Tony thought it would be best to get rid of all the hair. He had shaved a streak down the middle of his head, almost completely bald. Lev was psyched, and then we had to shave the rest that closely, too. the next day in school. he announced to his class that he shaved his head because he had lice. He felt sorry for the lice that died, and was excited about having a whole ecosystem in his head. Jean, his teacher, was proud of him for being so open about it and glad give an examine for the clase of someone not embarrassed about having lice. Even the principal's son gets lice!

The winter break before last we went to California, and Lev and I bought new hats at the Berkley hat store. He bought a great monkey sock hat, and he loved that hat. A few days later, we noticed he had the largest lice I had ever seen. He was very patient and thankful when I got rid of all the lice.

annoyed

In the last few years Lev was often annoyed at me for taking pictures.
Although he would get annoyed at other little things, too.
He was the happiest person I had known, and could experience such deep glee - but also the most annoyed, angry about nothing. Full of attitude, Lev never went unnoticed.

pets

We had a hamster in Monteverde. Jaal and Lev enjoyed playing with it, and watching it roll around the house in a hamster ball.
One day the hamster ball rolled down the stairs and opened. The hamster was free, but never found again.

We got our cat Linga and our dog Snowy soon after.
Lev liked to sleep with Snowy until he started to get a slight dog allergy.

Jaal and lev

I love this photo. It is from a hiking trip near Deception Pass. Note that Lev is wearing one glove.

Snow

More About Hats

Man, did Lev love hats! I remember driving in the car with him, and we saw a grimy baseball cap in the middle of the road. He insisted we stop to grab it. It was about some "mixed martial arts" group and he was very excited about it. After washing it he wore it all the time, it was one of his favorites.

A few years ago we took a car trip down to California. There is a great hat store in Berkeley. Lev found what is possibly the coolest hat of all time, a "monkey" cap; you can see it in the picture above. I am pretty sure he wore it the whole time we were traveling. Unfortunately later we discovered he had lice, and I think it was the darn hat that gave it to him!

When we were last in Costa Rica, Lev somehow decided he needed a straw hat. We walked all around the market looking for one. He tried a bunch on, as he wanted to find the perfect one. He found just what he wanted and was mighty pleased about it. He wore it the rest of the trip, and he was cool and comfortable on all those hot sunny days.

all powerful

This is Lev at age five. This is one of my favorite photos of Lev.

We spent a year in Puerto Rico when he was five. We lived on the beach, as you can see in the background. After making it through the yard filled with fire ants, you got to a wonderful snorkeling beach. We swam every day, and Lev and Jaal loved it. The schools were awful, but life was good.
I love this photo because it is a mask that we made together, and you can see that he just dropped his clothes on the ground and was running around in his underwear. Also, he is making a stance to show that he is all powerful in his outfit.
He had high self confidence, and wanted super powers. I think in his mind he often had super powers, an impressive imagination.

hat

Lev got this hat on the Washington DC trip in eighth grade. Of course, he was the only one to buy a hat, and to wear it.
He had a great time, made new friends, and constantly impressed his social studies teacher, who was relieved to hear that someone was listening in class.

the costume box

dressed up

Halloween

Lev loved to dress up. As a little kid, we had a bag of outfits he could wear, and we also made funny things together throughout the year. As he grew older, he still liked to put on funny stuff, cutting up old clothes, using cardboard and duck tape to make a funny arm cover, etc.
He liked to think of himself as powerful, invincible, somehow greater than a normal human.

Most Halloweens we spent with John, Jeana, Lucas, and Roz. We met in birthing class with Jaal, and we started doing Halloween together when they were two or three. Our neighborhood wasn't good for trick-or-treating so we would go to West Seattle and walk around their neighborhood. We would have dinner together and then go out walking. Everyone enjoyed it.

Two years ago Lev bought a metal knight's helmet. He loved medieval stuff. He wore it to Halloween and we padded the inside, but the darn thing was so heavy he couldn't wear it all night. That was the year that Tony brought his ukelele and we sang to the houses. We were quite a crew.

One year, when we were in Costa Rica, we were both renting a beach house in Playa Hermosa during a week off, and Jeana and I bought some candies and had the kids dress up and come to the different rooms in the house to get a treat.

As the kids got older, Halloween together had to stop. Below is a picture from our last time.
Lev wore a funny wig and painted his face red, with a Disturbed shirt. I'm not sure what he was. I remember listening to a lot of Disturbed that year. Lev would like to play the same songs over and over again, setting it to loop. One day, Jaal figured he had to do something, so he looked for another band that he thought he could introduce him to, and that's when he discovered Metallica. The next year was filled with Metallica. They even got to go to a show. Now, whenever I hear heavy metal I think of Lev. We used to listen every day on the way to school, but now my radio is silent.

Challenge Day

Challenge Day was a educational program promoting tolerance at the high school. Lev wrote this card to Rebecca.

Wrestling

Lev and I used to wrestle all the time. It was one of the coolest bonding things we did together. We used to go at it full force, it was quite a workout! I would get rug burns.

I used to wrestle in high school. Even though I was terrible and have forgotten most of the moves, I still knew enough to show him stuff and give him a good fight. When he was younger I used to have to really hold back, because I was bigger and stronger. But in this past year, he had a major growth spurt, and it was getting to almost be an even match. I usually won....but it was way closer :-)

Lev wrestled in middle school. He really liked it and tried hard, but he never got to the level he wanted to. He found that disappointing. I convinced him that the workout was as important as winning, and he embraced that idea. I enjoyed watching him in the matches, once cheering so loudly as to embarrass Jaal and make the coach smile.

Lev used to love pro wrestling. I remember him watching one match and yelling out loud at the top of his lungs, cheering his hero on. He was so into it! He did not care whether it was fixed or not, he just thought it was cool. He had plans on one point to be a pro wrestler. Rey Mysterio was an inspiration, being 5' 6" but using innovative moves to conquer his opponents.